Steam superheater of the multiple smoke or fire tube type



June 1 1926.

A. SPENCER STEAM SUPERHEATER OF THE MULTIPLE SMOKE 0R FIRE TUBE TYPE Filed July 15; 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 1 1926. v 1,587,045

A. SPENCER STEAM SUPERHEATER OF THE MULTIPLE SMOKE OR FIRE TUBE TYPE Filed July 15, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 l II.

June 1 1926. 1,587,045

A. SPENCER STEAM SUPERHEATER OF THE MULTIPLE SMOKE" OR FIRE TUBE TYPE Filed July 15, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 'F'IG.5.

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A. SPENCER EAM SUPERHEATER OF THE MULTIPLE SMOKE OR FIRE TUBE TYPE Filed July 15, 1921- 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented .lnne l, 1926.

units srras ALEXANDER SPENCER, OF WESTM'INSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND, AEiSIGNOR T0 SUPERHEATER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,

, WARE.

iterate me n. Y., A COMPANY oneiinrznn in DELA- STEAIVI SUPERHEATEB 0F THEIVIUL'IIPLE SMOKE 0R FIRE TUBE TYPE.

Application filed J'u1y 15, 1921, Serial No, 484,864, and in Great Britain January 23, 1920.

(GRANTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS .QF THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 19 21, 41 STAT. L, 1313.)

This invention relates to superheaters used in the boilers of locomotive engines which have fire-tubes; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of the parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, whereby a large number of fire-tubes are provided and are arranged in pairs with two loop-shaped super-heater pipes in each tube. and have a single inlet and a single outlet common to them. This construction is rela tively inexpensive, and it provides a maximum heating surface for the water in the boiler, and a maximum heating surface for the steam in the pipes. The superheater pipes inside the tubes are of the same area at all points of their length, and the hot gas and smoke passages formed between them and the sides of the tubes are of the same area and configuration at all points of their length so that said passages afford no facility for the lodgement of cinders, and so that they do not become obstructed. The superheater pipes are also connected to the headers so that the pipes pertaining to each pair of tubes can all be removed from them simultaneously, and without springing or mutilating the pipes in any way.

In the drawings Fig. l is a front elevation of a portion of a locomotive smoke box shewing one half of a steam superheater, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the superheater elements shewn in Figs. land 2.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation partly in section of a portion of a locomotive smokeboX and shows a steam superheater according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation partly in section of the superhe-ater illustrated in Figure 4E, and

Fig. 6 isa plan view of one of the superheater elements shewn in Figs. 4i and 5, but slightly distorted for clearness of illustration.

Like reference numbers indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

These pipes are connected together- Referring to Figs. 1-3, 1 indicates the boiler barrel, 2 the boiler tube-plate at the smokebox end of the-boiler and 3 the smokebox shell. 4- are the usual smoke or fire tubes of the boiler and 5 are the here inbefore mentioned enlarged smoketubes into which the U-pipes of the superheater elements extend. As clearly shown in F 1 there are four horizontal rows of the enlarged smolretubes the said tubes being arranged also in vertical rows and with the tubesin any two adjacent rows in staggered relation. 6, Fig. 2, is the usual saturated steam pipe in the boiler through which saturated steam passes from the boiler into the saturated steam chamber 7 of the header or steam collector 8 which as shown has a central rearwardly extending tubular part 9 which as usual registers with the saturated steam pipe 6 through a suitable aperture in the boiler tube plate 2. The up wardly projecting tubular part 8 of the header 8 is provided for the attachment of w a suitable shifting valve; this part 8 may if desired be omitted.

Each of the superheater elements shown in Figs. 1. to ,3, comprising the U-loop pipes 10, ll, 12 and 13, the bends 14 and 15 connecting the U-l oop pipes in the enlarged smoke-tubes 5 in alternate horizontal rows of said tubes and the saturated steam inlet and superheated steam outlet ends respectively 1.6 and 17, lie in a vertical plane separate from that in which any of the other elements of the installation lie the arrangement being such that any individual element can be disconnected from the headers and withdrawn from its smoketubes 5 without disconnecting or withdraw ing any other element. 18 is the superheated steam header or collector'from which superheated steam is conveyed to the engine by the steam pipe 19 (there being one of such pipes 19 connected with each end of the header 18), the header 18 having downwardly extending portions 18 to flanges on which the steam pipes are connected for instance by bolts or studs and nuts. The saturated steam inlet end portion or pipe 16 of each element unites and conveys saturated steam into the saturated steam inflow pipes of the two U-pipes 1t III and 11 in one enlarged smoketube 5, the said portion or pipe 16 having a cross area equal or approximately equal to the combined cross areas of the two said inflow pipes; similarly the superheated steam outlet portion or pipe 17 of the element unites and receives superheated steam from the two steam outflow pipes of the Upipes 12 and 13 in the other enlarged smoketube 5 to which the element pertains, the steam outflow pipes of the U-pipes 10, 11 in the one tube 5 being connectedto the steam inflow pipes of the U-pipes 12, 13 in the other tube 5 by the bent portions 14 and 15 which in the case of each element are arranged one behind the other or in staggered relation within the smokebox as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and These bent portions 14 and 15 are arranged one behind the other in order to provide for the free flow of the fire gases through and from the smoltetubes. The arrows indicate the course taken by the steam flowing rom the saturated steam header 8 through the elements to the superheated steam chamber 18.

From the above desc'iption it will be seen that each superheater element as a unit comprises four U-loop pipes two of which, 10 and 11, extend into an enlarged smoke tube 5 in one horizontal row of such tubes and the other two of which, 12 and 13, extend into an enlarged smoketube 5 in another horizontal row, and that therefore each such unit comprises two four-fold superheater elements connected in parallel by the end portions or pipes 16 and 17 each said four-fold element providing two inward and two outward paths for the steam flowing from the saturated steam header 8 to the superheated'steam header 18.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1-3, the end portions or pipes 16 and 17 of each element are connected re spectively to the headers 8 and 18 by means of union pieces respectively 20, 21 in which the ends of the pipes 16, 17 are suitably secured (for instance welded) the said union pieces being secured to the headers 8 and 18, respectively, by means of bolts 22 which extend through the header from the rear side thereof and through the union pieces which are held with their suitably formed annular faces 20, 21, respectively against corresponding annular faces, surrounding apertures 23 in the headers, by means of nuts 21 screwed up on the outer ends of the bolts 22 which project through holes in the front of the union pieces, 20, As shown the bolts 22 are screwed at 22 into correspondingly threaded holes in the rear wall of the headers 8 and 18 respectively.

Referring now to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in these figures instead of the upper and lower headers 8 and 18, one for saturated steam and the other for superheated steam, described above with reference to Figs. 1;" a single header 25 of known construction, comprising a plurality of saturated and superheated steam compartments arranged transversely of and alternately in the header is provided and the saturated steam inlet end portion and the superheated steam out let end portion of each element, instead of being secured to the front of the headers as in Figs. 1 and 2, are expanded into holes in the bottom of the header 25 the saturated steam inlet portion or pipe 16 and the superheated steam outlet portion or pipe 17 of each element being bent upwardly and their ends expanded in suitably spaced holes in the bottom of the header 25, one of said holes communicating with a saturated steam chamber or compartment and theother hole con'imunicating with a superheated steam chamber in the header. in this embodiment instead of each superheater element or unit comprising the four U-loop pipes 10, 11, 12, 13, occupying two enlarged smoke tubes one above the other in the same vertical plane as in the case of Fig. 1, in Fig. l the U-pipes of each element occupy enlarged smoke tubes belonging to two adjacent horizontal rows of such tubes the tube 5 in one row being out of vertical alignment with the tube 5 in the other row, and the hereinbefore men tioned bent portions of the element, connecting the U-pipes in one smoke tube with those in the other, instead of lying in parallel vertical planes in Figs. 1 and 2 lie in parallel planes diagonally of the boiler as clearly shown in Fig. 4i wherein these bent portions are marked 14:, 15*.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the U-pipes of each element having the two saturated steam inflow pipes in one smoke tube 5 united by the end portion or pipe 16 and the two superheated steam outflow pipes in the other smoke tube 5 united by the end portion or pipe 17 are marked with the same reference numbers as those applied to the corresponding U-pipes in Figs. 1, 2, and The transversely arranged saturated steam chambers in the header Fig. 4 are all indicated by the reference 'number 26, and the similarly arranged superheated steam chambers are all indicated by the reference number 27, and it will be seen that the construction of the header is such that the chamber at one end of the header (the right hand end in Fig. 1) is a saturated steam chamber, and the chamber at the opposite end of the header is a superheated steam chamber. Further it will be seen that the header comprises two longitudinal steam passages or spaces 28, 29 in rear of the transverse chambers 26, 27 and separated therefrom by a ver tical partition or wall 30 in which upper shewn in 1 and lower openings 31, 32 are provided the openings 31 forming communication bebetween the passage 28 and the saturated steam chambers 26 and the openings forming communication between the superheated steam chan'ibers 27 and the passage 29 which latter communicates at its opposite ends with passages formed'in downward extensions 34 of the header casting the said extensions having the flanges 35 to which the usual steam pipes, for conveying steam to the engine, are connected. The above mentioned passages 28 and 29 in the header are separated from each other by the horizontal partition or wall 36, and the passage 28 is in communication with the saturated steam pipe 6 of the boiler by means of the rearward tubular portion 25 of the header.

T he saturated steam inlet end portion or pipe 16 and the superheated steam outlet end portion or pipe 17 of an element may be connected respectively to the two steam inflow pipes and to the two steam outflow pipes of the element by welding the ends of the respective pipes together. Or these portions or pipes 16, 17 may be connected to the steam inflow pipes and the steam outflow pipes, respectively, by means of Y- shaped or approximately Y-shaped union pieces or pipes which may be welded to the ends of the pipes.

Variations might be made in the details or construction and arrangement of the various parts of the superheaters above described with reference to and shown in the drawings without departing from the main features of the invention.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a superheater, two boiler fire-tubes arranged one above the other in a vertical plane, two loop-shaped superheater pipes arranged in vertical planes in each of the said fire-tubes, the upper and lower stretches of the said pipes being independently connected together at their looped ends, two bend pipes arranged side by side in the said vertical planes. and connecting the lower stretches of the superheater pipes of the upper tube with the upper stretches of the superheater pipes of the lower fire-tube, and inlt and outlet pipes connected to the projecting ends of the uppermost and lowermost stretches of the superheater pipes re spectively outside the fire-tubes, the said inlet and outlet pipes being arranged in a vertical plane intermediate of the said vertical planes and each being of an area substantially equal to the areas of the two stretches to which it pertains.

2. In a superheater, two'boiler fire-tubes arranged one above the other, two loop shaped superheater pipes arranged side by side in each of the fire-tubes, the upper and lower stretches of the said pipes being independently connected together at their looped ends, two bend pipes connecting the lower stretches of the superheater pipes of the upper fire-tube with the upper stretches of the superheater pipes of the lower firetube, all the said superheater pipes and bend pipes being of the same area, and the gas passages formed between the said stretches and the fire-tubes being of the same configuration and area at all points of their length, and inlet and outlet pipes connected to the projecting end portions of the uppermost and lowermost stretches respectively outside the fire-tubes and each being of an area substantially equal to the areas of the two stretches to which it pertains.

3. In a superheater, two boiler fire-tubes arranged one above the other, two loop shaped superheater pipes arranged side by side in each of the said tubes, lower stretches of the said pipes being independently connected together at their looped ends, each superheater pipe of the upper fire-tube being connected to the corresponding superheater pipe of the lower tube by a bend pipe and all of the said pipes being of the same area at all points of their length and forming a continuous cylindrical passage, and inlet and outlet pipes connected respectively to the projecting end portions of the uppermost and lowermost stretches of the two superheater pipes at points out side the fire-tubes, and each being of an area substantially equal to the areas of the two stretches to which it pertains.

at. In comb'nation with a superheater a set forth in claim 3, header chambers having openings in their front sides, and means for detachably securing the inlet and out let pipes to the front sides of the header chambers in communication with their openings, all the said superheater pipes being slidable simultaneously out of the fire-tubes when the inlet and outlet pipes are detached from the header chambers.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

ALEXANDER SPENCER.

the upper and 

